Cox adds ESPNU, near deal with The mtn.

Cox is spending the holiday
season filling its digital sports and information tier with college sports
networks.

The country’s
fourth-largest cable operator signed a deal last week that puts ESPNU on its
digital tier, a move that will add up to 2 million subscribers to the service.
The deal includes carriage for ESPN2 HD as well.

UNLV and San Diego State fans
should soon see the Mountain
West net on Cox.

The deal is an important
one for ESPNU, which has resisted being placed on poorly penetrated digital sports
tiers. It was left out of last month’s ESPN-Comcast deal, in part, because it
refused to accept carriage on Comcast’s digital sports and information tier.

Network officials say the
penetration of Cox’s digital sports tier is widespread enough, about 30
percent, that they were not scared away from cutting the deal.

Cox also is close to
completing a deal for the Mountain West Conference’s network, The mtn., in the
markets of Las Vegas and San Diego, home to conference schools UNLV and San
Diego State. Both sides have said that a deal should be worked out by the end
of the year.

Sources have said the deal
will include carriage for CSTV, which is a 50 percent owner of The mtn. Both
networks would be carried on the sports and information tier in Las Vegas and
San Diego.

Cox already signed its deal
with ESPNU and has started launching the network in several markets. Last week,
the network rolled out in New England; Phoenix; Omaha, Neb.; Wichita, Kan.;
Virginia Beach, Va.; and several Florida markets. It expects to launch in
Oklahoma City, Las Vegas and San Diego over the next several weeks.

“This particular deal is
monumental for us,” said Burke Magnus, ESPNU’s vice president and general
manager. “Cox is the fourth-largest cable operator and serves a lot of college
markets.”

The deal gives ESPNU about
10 million subscribers, thanks to deals with DirecTV, EchoStar and the
country’s seventh-largest MSO, Mediacom.